


Ripples

by Mysterious_Prophetess



Series: Bittersweet Memories [11]
Category: Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi | Spirited Away, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Gen, Good Shigaraki Tomura | Shimura Tenko, Onmyoji Bakugo Katsuki, Onmyoji Shimura Tenko, Rating is for Katsuki's mouth, Reincarnation, Reunion, Sensei | All For One is Midoriya Izuku's Parent, Sensei | All For One is Not Midoriya Hisashi, Spirited Away AU, Tuna's Spirited Away AU, dad for one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-21
Updated: 2021-01-21
Packaged: 2021-03-18 18:27:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28871565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mysterious_Prophetess/pseuds/Mysterious_Prophetess
Summary: Years apart, and yet it seems like little's changed. However, everything has except the things that matter most.
Relationships: Midoriya Inko/M OC
Series: Bittersweet Memories [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2100699
Comments: 8
Kudos: 115





	Ripples

Eri sat by the river, waiting. _Ah! There he was!_

“Mr. Dragon!” She said.

“Hey!” The dragon said.

“Are you really a god?”

“Some people call me that.”

“Can you grant wishes?”

“Only those relating to my river.”

“Oh. I wanted to wish for Mommy to be happy.”

————————— ————————

Izuku felt that in his soul. Many times when he was this girl’s age, all he wanted was for his mom to be happy. He looked around and left the river to sit next to the girl taking on his humanoid form.

“Mr. Dragon! I didn’t know you could do that!”

“Now it’s easier to speak to you,” Izuku said. He moved to ruffle her hair but something zapped his hand.

“Sorry. The ommy-oji said it wasn’t safe for me to not wear this. You might be nice but other spirits can be mean,” she said as she played with the beads around her neck.

“They’re right. There are a lot of bad spirits out there, but I try to keep my river clear of them,” Izuku said.

“Mommy doesn’t want me in the water alone.”

“Your mommy’s right. Rivers are dangerous,” Izuku said.

“But it’s your river.”

“It is but it’s still a river,” Izuku said.

“Oh. Mommy says it’s polite to give people names. I’m—.”

“Actually, with spirits, it’s not safe to give out your name,” Izuku said gently.

“Really? Why?”

“Names have power. So, you can call me Deku, and I’ll call you Aka, for your eyes,” Izuku said.

“I like it! Is Deku your real name?”

“No. It’s not, but I use it because even for us river gods, true names can be dangerous,” Izuku said.

“Is it Dehisa, like everyone calls the river?”

“No, but Deku can be read from the kanji on the sign,” Izuku said.

——————————— ————————————

Katsuki stretched as he walked to work and he saw Eri was at it again—like her mom said she’d be—, but this time there was someone with her and he knew from the horns sticking out of the hair and the dragon tail that this was the river god in a human form. The clothes were the same colors as the scales Katsuki caught glimpses of here and here. Green, white, and red accents. Sitting out of the river, he could see the scales on the tail were pearly and shit. He could also tell that it was a kid.

“Katsuki!” Eri yelled when she caught a glimpse of him and waved at him brightly. He saw the dragon react with a…jolt oddly enough.

“Oy. What’s with using my real name in front of a spirit?” Katsuki said.

“Oh. Mr. Deku just said not to, too,” Eri said.

“ **Deku**?!”

————————— —————————

The way this Katsuki said “Deku” was the clincher. He looked up at the friend he'd once called "Kachan" in shock.

“Kachan?” He said. Katsuki was wearing a high school uniform and he dropped a backpack before he charged at Izuku. He skidded to a halt.

“What the Hell!”

“Kachan, there’s a kid here,” Izuku said.

“Oy. Your Mom sent me. She said to tell you to go home,” Katsuki said,

“Oh. Ok. Bye Deku! Kachan!” She said before she took off across the bridge.

“How the fuck are you a damned _dragon_ and the god of this freaking river!” Katsuki demanded once the girl was definitely out of earshot.

“It’s a long story,” Izuku said.

“Good. I like those now come with me so you can tell my boss about it too,” Katsuki said.

“I don’t know how far from my river I can actually go,” Izuku admitted.

“You’ll be fine, Geezer’s shop is literally in sight!” Katuski said as he gestured at a small grouping of buildings up a bit from the bank but still visible. His finger seemed to indicate the oldest looking one of the bunch.

“I can’t stay too long,” Izuku said.

“You’re staying as long as it takes for you to make this make sense,” Katsuki said as he dragged Izuku away.

————————— ————————

Of all the things he expected when his apprentice was late that day, seeing him drag a river god in human form (who had Katsuki’s backpack in his hands for some reason) wasn’t one of them. There was also something eerily familiar about the dragon’s human form.

“Case closed on Deku,” Katsuki said.

“Oh. This was the dragon that cast the spell?” Tenko said.

“What? No, this dragon is Deku!” Katsuki said.

“How’d you know about the spell?” The newly identified—and somehow a dragon—Izuku Midoriya said.

“Because we broke it, dumb ass!” Katsuki said.

“But how’d you even know to break it? It should have erased all traces of me,” Izuku said.

“Brat’s naturally gifted in onmyodo arts. So he was immune to it. He remembered and eventually got your mother to come in for me to break it,” Tenko said. Katsuki finally seemed to realize what Izuku had just admitted to doing.

“Why the Hell did you do that to Aunty?!”

“ **Because I didn’t want her to mourn me**!” Izuku snapped back. There was a slight hint of a growl to the yell. _Shit. This is still a dragon._

“What kinda bullshit is that! You ain’t dead!”

“I’m not human, Kachan! I can’t live in this world and I couldn’t return at all before because I didn’t have a river! I didn’t want her to miss me, I thought it’d be better if she didn’t remember me,” Izuku said as tears began to fall. If Tenko hadn’t already known this was Inko’s kid, the waterworks _sealed_ the deal. There was also something deeply….humbling to see a river god cry.

“You don’t get to decide that for someone else, Deku! It’s messed up to do it!” Katsuki yelled.

“I mean I get where you’re coming from, and it mighta been easier for Inko if we’d left things alone but she needed the truth,” Tenko said.

“Even if the truth is that I could save her and not me?” Izuku said.

“You seem to be in pretty good shape for someone not saved,” Tenko said.

“But the shape isn’t human, and she deserves to live a life in the human world with other humans instead of being tied to me,” Izuku said.

“That’s her choice, Deku. Aunty’s stronger than you think.”

“I know she is, that’s why I wanted to be strong for her,” Izuku said. The tears weren’t stopping. _Geez, is this a Midoriya special ability: infinity tears?!_

“Don’t do shit like that again, and you’re gonna apologize to Aunty,” Katsuki said.

“I make no promises. Who knows when a human might need to forget something,” Izuku said as the tears finally seemed to stop.

“Before you explode, Katsuki, he’s got a point. Sometimes there are things from the Spirit World humans are better off not remembering,” Tenko said.

“Fine. So how the hell are you even a dragon in the first place?” Katsuki asked as he gestured to Izuku’s…everything.

“If a human stays too long in the spirit world and eats their food, they become an inhabitant forever if they don’t leave before it’s too late,” Izuku said.

“Then why didn’t you leave?”

“Mom was cursed. I had to save her,” Izuku said.

“And in the time it took to save her, your transformation completed,” Tenko said.

“Yes,” Izuku said.

“And why did you turn into a dragon specifically?”

“At first, we thought it was because the first spirit world food I ate was a dragon fruit,” Izuku said.

“But?”

“Turns out, my first life had been this river before humans dammed it up, killing him,” Izuku said.

“So, this was always the Deku river?”

“The old name was the Kohino,” Izuku said.

“And now it’s the Dehisa whose kanji can be read as Izuku,” Tenko said. Izuku looked at him sharply.

“Brat and I have been working on figuring out what happened to you for the past five years,” Tenko said.

“Oh, right,” Izuku said.

“And I’m gonna call it the Deku River no matter what,” Katsuki said.

“What trapped your Mom, might I ask?” Tenko had a notebook out. He was going to make sure Ishiki had all the intel he could want so he’d leave Tenko the Hell alone except for protecting Inko from her misty stalker.

“It’s cursed food. I don’t think it’s a lure on purpose but it’s outside the Bathhouse. It’s a powerful structure that’s had a lot of different masters and mistresses. It ends up being the lifeline for kids who were like me because the Witch or whoever’s in charge, has to give anyone a job who asks for it,” Izuku said.

“Why?”

“Because, working there, you get fed and eating prevents you from fading out of existence,” Izuku said.

“Shit’s messed up.”

“Spirits without something to anchor them also suffer the same fate on this side,” Izuku said.

“Which is why a lot of the shit we deal with is possessing something to keep itself alive,” Tenko said.

“Kastuki, I got your message!” Tenko looked up to see Inko had arrived. Izuku paled and looked ready to bolt, which was an unnerving sight for him.

“You texted her?” Izuku said in a weak voice.

“Yeah. Not about to let you get out of this,” Katsuki said.

—————————————— ————————

Izuku looked over at his mother for the first time in years and she looked good. Happy even.

“Inko, take off your necklace for a moment, please,” Katsuki’s boss said. _He never did introduce himself._

“Why?”

“There’s someone you need to meet without your talismans hurting him,” Katsuki’s boss said. His mom shrugged and pulled off a beaded necklace and hung it on a very dusty coatrack neither Katsuki or his boss bothered to use. She finally _saw_ him and the tears started.

“Izuku!” She flung her arms around his neck and hugged him so tightly that were he not a dragon, he was sure she’d have popped his ribs. He hugged her back as tightly as he dared, fresh tears falling.

“I’m so sorry,” Izuku said through his sobs.

“I’m just glad you’re alive,” Inko replied.

—————————— —————————

Tenko and Katsuki stepped out to give the pair some privacy.

“Geesh, I thought she cried a lot,” Tenko said.

“It’s a Midoriya thing. What’re you gonna tell Deadbeat?”

“That we found out what happened to Izuku Midoriya and that there’s nothing we can do to reverse it,” Tenko said.

“You ain’t telling him about the whole dragon thing?”

“Hell no. I don’t want him around anymore than he is now,” Tenko said.

“Good.”

“Hey! Is Inko ok? She rushed out the door,” Buri had turned up.

“She’s fine. We found her kid. He’s alive,” Tenko said.

“R-Really? That’s great! Is he inside?”

“Yeah, but let’s give them a bit, you know how Inko is? Multiply that by twenty with both of them,” Tenko said.

“Right,” Buri said.

“Kid ain’t human anymore, so don’t make a comment and take off the bracelet before you try to touch him,” Katsuki said.

“He’s not _what_.”

“Ok, so turns out if we humans spend too long in the Spirit World eating their food—and if we don’t we die—we turn into something from the Spirit World and most of those can’t live here. Izuku spent too long in the spirit world and couldn’t go back with Inko,” Tenko said.

—————————— ———————————

“What are you now?” Inko asked.

“A dragon. It was a shock for me when I realized what I was turning into,” Izuku said.

“Tenko said there was another spell on me, one that had been undone. Where was I when all of this happened?”

“You…were a sheep. Do you remember that place that looked like a festival but without the people? The food there is cursed unless you’re of the spirit world. Humans who eat it become different livestock. That’s why I couldn’t just leave. I had to save you from your curse and the spirit world but I didn’t manage it fast enough, and I was changed too much to go back with you,” Izuku said.

“So you had my memory of you erased. I want to say I understand why you did it, Izuku, but never do that to me again,” Inko said as she took a step back and got a good look at her baby. He looked so grown up. She played with his now bright green hair. Their hair had always looked a little greenish under the lights and now his hair was unmistakably green. A few pearly scales glimmered on his face and arms when the sleeves slid back as well as on the pair of ears that hung next to his face. A swish of fabric drew her eye to his dragon tail.

“I promise I won’t act like that again, not without your permission,” Izuku said as the tears finally stopped, for now.

“You can’t stay.”

“No. Spirits don’t belong here. I’m luckier than most, I have my river but I should get back before too much longer. Time’s a bit weird between here and there,” Izuku said.

“River?”

“The Dehisa. I’m the river god for it, it surprised me too,” Izuku said. Inko smiled.

“Of course you are, it’s written the same way as your name,” she said.

“Kachan’s already calling it the Deku,” Izuku said.

“It’s too bad you can’t stay, I’d have liked to have introduced you to your stepfather,” Inko said.

———————— ————————

“I have a step-father?” Izuku was surprised his mother had chosen to remarry at all.

“Yes. His name’s Buri Akatani.”

“Is he nice? Does he…” _Does he treat you well and not like an accessory?_

“He’s wonderful,”she said.

“Did someone say my name?” Izuku turned and his jaw dropped. It was like looking at a reddish brown haired, brown-eyed version of Father.

“I know, it’s startling once you realize how much he and Hisashi look alike, but they’re different,” His mom said. _Right, Father looking like my human dad was an issue._ The way Buri held himself made the uncanny resemblance less bizarre. He was a much more open and friendly figure than either of Izuku’s other fathers. Buri’s eyes were drawn to Izuku’s horns and he could tell the man was trying not to comment.

“I have to go now. I should be in the river daily, if you want to see me,” Izuku said before he hugged his mother one last time.

“You gotta curfew or something, Deku?” Katsuki asked as he walked a step behind Izuku back towards the river.

“Not exactly, but I do have dinner,” Izuku said. _Explaining the situation about Father is not something I want to get into with Kachan._

“You’d better be in this river every damn day, Deku.”

“I kinda have to be, Kachan. It’s _my_ river.”

——————— ————————

“Ugh, you stink of human,” Father said whenever Izuku arrived for dinner.

“I had to deal with a lot of them today,” Izuku said.

“What happened to your hand?” Father asked. Izuku realized there was a rapidly healing burn from the zap Eri's talisman had given him.

“Talisman. I touched something protected by it by accident. The onmyoji near my river in the human world understand I’m no threat,” Izuku said.

“And yet that burn says otherwise.”

“It was my fault and the kid wearing it apologized. She can see the supernatural and they’re trying to keep her safe from spirits that might hurt her,” Izuku said.

“It would appear they’re semi-competent,” Father said. It almost sounded like he had some…grudging respect for Katsuki and his teacher.

“I doesn’t hurt that I’m trying to keep any malevolent forces out of my river,” Izuku said.

“As you should. Such trash should keep itself out of your waters,” Father said.

————————————— ——————

Hisashi saw he’d gotten a text from Shimura. It said:

_Izuku is alive but not human, can’t live outside spirit world. Spent too long in spirit world trying to save Inko. Saved her but couldn’t leave with her. We have confirmation he’s doing well. Quest line completed. Do not contact me unless it’s about that misty spirit.—TS_

Hisashi responded.

**_What caused the memory erasure?_ **

_I just told you not to contact me. Did you use your reading comprehension as a dump stat?_

_..........._

_Fine. I’ll humor you. It was put in place because Izuku couldn’t leave and a well meaning idiot didn’t want Inko to be upset over their permanent separation. Now don’t contact me except about that mist spirit. I mean it.—TS_

**Author's Note:**

> Promised, didn't I?


End file.
